Causes and Treatment of Nose Bleeding

Many people have suffered a nosebleed or two in their life. In most cases, it lasted a few minutes, if that, and stopped. If the person stopped to wonder what caused it, their befuddlement probably lasted a shorter time than the nosebleed itself. They were fine and went on with their day.

But there are several things that can cause a nosebleed and not all of them are innocuous. Here are some nose bleeding causes:

• Injury to the nose: Clearly, if someone is punched in the nose, falls on their face or suffers a nose injury while playing sports, the blood vessels in the nose may be broken. The bleed can be profuse or can be an oozing of blood. If the injury to the blood vessels happened near the front of the nostrils, the blood is bright red. Darker red blood appears if the injury was further back in the nose.
• Breathing dry air: Simply breathing dry air can damage the delicate blood vessels in the nose.
• Picking the nose: This too can break a blood vessel in the nose.
• Sinusitis: This is an inflammation of the sinuses, the air-filled areas that open into the nose. Sinusitis can be acute, which means that it's of short duration or chronic, which means the condition lasts a long time.
• Allergies: Allergies can also inflame the tissues in the nose and lead to bleeding.
• Use of blood thinning medications: These medications not only include drugs such as warfarin but include aspirin.
• Common cold: The inflamed sinuses and frequent sneezing of common cold can cause blood vessels in the nose to burst.
• Cocaine: When cocaine is inhaled it constricts the blood vessels in the nose. This can cause then to break.
• Deviated septum: This is a condition where the wall of cartilage that separates the nostrils is displaced to one side. This can dry out the air that enters the nose and make it more susceptible to bleeds.

What usually doesn’t cause a nosebleed is high blood pressure, though high blood pressure can make a nosebleed worse. Sometimes nose bleeding causes are unknown.

Nose Bleeding Treatment

Most nosebleeds can be treated by the patient. They should sit up with their head bent forward and use their fingers to close their nose for 10 minutes. Holding the nose closed allows a blood clot to form, which stops the bleeding. The patient should breathe through their mouth during his time and avoid blowing their nose or sneezing for some hours after the nosebleed stops. Sneezing or blowing the nose can knock out the blood clot. They should also not pack their nose with gauze or cotton.

The patient or their helper can apply cold compresses to the nose as they hold it shut. The patient should not speak and should not swallow the blood from the nosebleed but spit it out. They should see a doctor for nose bleeding treatment if the bleeding does not stop.